Naturalist Chris Packham charged with assault of trappers in Gozo

Chris Packham, the British naturalist and broadcaster is back in Gozo and Malta. He was in Gozo yesterday and according to a video and updates on his Twitter account Packham had to spend two hours at the Victoria Police Station.

In his video Packham said it was because “two trappers claimed I had assaulted them,” and that he is due to appear in court on Thursday morning, He added that “I’m completely innocent of these charges.”

In his original tweets Packham said, “Malta ! You point out suspected criminals to the police . . . and you end up in court ! Please RT and begin baking cakes!#stoptheslaughter” He also said, “Gozo police station . But what happened to the trappers/hunters @RoderickGaldes @JosephMuscat_JM ? Probably – nothing.”

The original tweet and video has now been retweeted almost 1400 times, with Packham getting support from all corners of the globe.

11 Responses

Too many Britons in our country still with the idea that they own us and tend to be arrogant & patronising. I’ve seen worse in the UK, so i would say to this guy to mind his own business and let us run our internal affairs and not the bloody foreigners. Thank You very much. i am sure our Gozo Police force can handle the situation without making a BBC documentary and tarnish our sunny islands.

Mr.Chris Packham literally picked on Gozo/Malta of all countries to make his case?, surely he could have made a better report if he were to go to say Sicily, Cyprus or Gibraltar they shoot birds of a feather there too. Obviously this is going to hurt our tourists mainly form the UK, but then again we have plenty more fish in the sea and do not necessarily depend on the Britons alone. End of:-

It is so depressing hearing the constant early morning gunfire at Gharb during hunting season. The ‘ bloody foreigners ‘ like me bring in a lot of money to Gozo. We also hold it in high regard and don’t want it spoiled for future generations. Like protecting other things like azure window oops no… oh well.
Killing endangered birds for fun? what is wrong with people. It’s 2017. Not the Middle Ages.

And it is exactly these barbaric and outdated attitudes that will stop not just the British but tourists from many other countries from visiting the islands. As most of the islands’ income comes from tourism then you are doing yourselves no favours by continuing with this abhorrent practice and it gives the Gozitans and Maltese a terrible reputation for being backward and heartless people. Please think again.

If you are British i would suggest first sort our the cruelty in the UK, i watch British documentaries and its not pleasant when it comes to cruelty to dogs, donkeys tied up for days with a piece of rope cutting through their skin/ legs & many more to mention,however i do agree Malta should stop shooting birds and instead take up clay pigeon shooting, which cost money and the Gozitans are hoarders and would not drop dead for a cent. or as Packham put it the butchers of the med. As for the tourists we all know that they still come and the reason being that MALTA IS THE SAFEST COUNTRY FOR All visitors.

Ture a VERY SMALL minority of the indigenous people on these islands are exactly what you said but then again nobody is perfect and i am sure some Britons as just as bad try watching sky news.then come back and give us a feedback my dear,

This is true Rita, but the difference is that in Britain when animal abuse is reported something is actually done about it. The people are prosecuted and jailed and/or fined and prevented from keeping animals again and the poorly animals are rescued. It appears that in in Malta and Gozo nobody in power cares about the birds as the hunting of protected species and illegal trapping happens right under the noses of the authorities. In so many cases it seems that despite the trappers having been spotted with photograhic or video evidence nothing is ever done about it. It is so sad that there is a very small minority of people who practice this “traditional sport” but even more upsetting that the government won’t do anything to put a stop to it. If there are no deterrents then nothing is going to prevent it from continuing.

Alex. You should know that Chris Packham did not just “pick” on Gozo. He has reported on these abhorrent practices in several other countries under the migratory routes. This latest fiasco has hit the headlines all over the world I am happy to say.